Tsaritsa Genshin Impact Theories; Who is the Cryo Archon?

The Tsaritsa in Genshin Impact is one of many mysterious figures, pulling the strings on major events with her Eleven Fatui Harbingers.

While not much is known about Tsaritsa, the Cryo Archon in Genshin Impact, we can speculate to find her true intentions and goals.

Is she really as evil as we think she is? Or is that what we’ve been led to believe from the game’s events?

Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the Tsaritsa to try and figure out her enigmatic presence. We’ll also discuss some theories about her true intentions for Teyvat.

Let’s get started with the little we do know about the Tsaritsa.

Who is Tsaritsa?

The Tsaritsa is the Cryo Archon and the ruler of Snezhnaya And leader of the notorious Fatui & the Eleven Fatui Harbingers. One of the main things we know about the Tsaritsa is that she uses her loyal followers within the Fatui to achieve her goals.

This might come across as ‘evil’ as they try to control other nations in Teyvat by any means necessary. They go as far as manipulating and intimidating nations with their superior firepower. 

Another thing we know about the Tsaritsa is that she has tasked the Eleven Harbingers with retrieving the other 7 Archons’ Gnosis for reasons unknown.

But with the little backstory we know from Dainsleif, Tartaglia, and the Shivada Jade Gemstone description, she rebelled against “the Divine” and plans to “burn away the old world”.

This points to Tsaritsa planning something major, and possibly the decimation of Celestia, a powerful being in Celestia, or Teyvat itself to start anew.

The confusing part about all this is the Fatui themselves, their undying loyalty and trust in Tsaritsa. Tartaglia is a prime example as he’s 11th Fatui Harbinger but as we played through the game, we realize Tartaglia has noble intentions.

He’s not the ‘conventional bad guy’ and showcases the dichotomy of bad and good in Genshin Impact. He describes the Tsaritsa as a “Gentle Soul” who is “too gentle” resulting in her creating a “hardened” exterior and mindset. 

He explains that her true goal is a peaceful world, but to achieve it, she has declared war against the entire world.

However, at this point, we do not know if she means to destroy Teyvat or the way the world works with Archons and Celestia at the helm. 

We also know she is not the original Cryo Archon from the Archon War and took her spot at least 500 years before current events. Coincidentally, the Cataclysm and destruction of Khaenri’ah also happened around then, and seems to be the reason she’s ‘changed’.

The Cryo Archon is also believed to be the God of Love but Dainsleaf explains that she’s a “God with no love left for her people ”. He goes on to say her people don’t love her but are waiting for the day to rebel against the Divine Powers of Teyvat.

The true motivations behind her changed behavior and ruthless ways are unknown. But this begs the question, is Tsaritsa truly evil?

Is the Tsaritsa Truly Evil? 

It’s a fairly common trope in Anime for the evilest villain in the saga to have noble intentions and has shouldered the burden to achieve an idealistic world. Think of characters like Sasuke in Naruto or Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan.

If we take this frame of thinking with the Tsaritsa, she might not be as ‘evil’ as she seems. Her orders to the Fatui and Eleven Harbingers may not be ‘good’, but if she’s doing so to achieve an idealistic goal, it might be understandable.

When Venti had his Gnosis stolen by Signora in the Ending Note Quest, he explains that due to a certain event (speculated to be the Cataclysm) 500 years ago she changed and cut off ties with him and possibly the other Archons.

If we assume the Cataclysm was such a horrific event that the God of Love herself lost all sense of ‘love’, it explains quite a lot. This could mean the events 500 years ago affected her so significantly that she changed her outlook on the world, people, and love.

As Tartaglia mentions, she is ‘Gentle’ but wants a ‘peaceful world’ even if she has to fight the world. This could mean she has found her way to achieve ‘peace’, regardless of people’s love now, for the adoration of her people in her new world.

Her stealing the Gnosis from Venti and obtaining Zhongli’s Gnosis could be a ploy to weaken Celestia’s powers. So that when she finally declares war on Celestia, the Archons cannot participate.

But what is the Gnosis and why are they so important? Here’s what we think Tsaritsa’s plan is.

Possible Tsaritsa Genshin Impact Theories

Assuming the event 500 years ago that changed Tsaritsa is indeed the Cataclysm and Fall of Khaenri’ah, then this could explain everything. The Gnosis imbued to the Archons could be a way the Divine Powers in Celestia control them.

There is no mention of ‘Archons’ destroying Khaenri’ah, but Dainsleif mentions multiple times that the ‘Gods’ themselves descended upon Khaenri’ah and destroyed the nation.

Keep in mind that ‘Archon’ is just another word for ‘God’ in Teyvat.

Assuming that the Archons did not do this of their free will, Tsaritsa and the other Archons may have been controlled by Celestia to destroy the only nation without a God, Khaenri’ah.

As such, Tsaritsa after witnessing and participating in the desolation of mankind could have been repulsed by her actions and decided to finally rebel against the conspirators, Celestia itself.

This also assumes that Gnosis is the method to control the Archons without their consent.

If so, her reasoning to steal the Gnosis from all the other Archons means she plans to fight against Celestia and does not want the Archons to interfere if Celestia controls them again.

She also uses Delusions, unlike other Archons who use Visions. This suggests that Visions can also be a conduit to control all of the people blessed by Archons to defend Celestia if the time comes.

All of this culminates into an epic saga where Tsaritsa, the ‘evil’ antagonist, is trying to free the world from Celestia’s grasp. If so, Tsaritsa isn’t really ‘evil’ and is approaching this battle with ‘the means justify the end‘ philosophy.

Even if what she does now isn’t ‘good’, the result of a peaceful world without wars is worth the price she has to pay.

But at this point, all of this is pure speculation. Genshin’s true story may be somewhat similar or entirely different.

But we wanna know what you think, is Tsaritsa evil, or is she fighting a lonely battle against the Divine?